Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

The making of the fittest, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Volume 2

eng

videorecording

The making of the fittest

videorecording-dvd

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

31

"This series of short films has been crafted to engage students with memorable examples of the evolutionary process in action. Each film takes students on an adventure - to the deserts of the American Southwest, to the Antarctic, and to East Africa, where they encounter fascinating creatures and pioneering scientists who have revealed how the fittest are made. Produced by award-winning filmmakers, each film illustrates the role of mutation and natural selection in adaptation"--Www.hhmi.com/biointeractiveGot lactase? The co-evolution of genes and culture: "Human babies drink milk; it's the food especially provided for them by their mothers. Various cultures have also added the milk of other mammals to their diet and adults think nothing of downing a glass of cows' milk. But worldwide, only a third of adults can actually digest lactose, the sugar in milk. In this short film we follow human geneticist Spencer Wells, Director of the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society, as he tracks down the genetic changes associated with the ability to digest lactose as adults, tracing the origin of the trait to less than 10,000 years ago, a time when some human populations started domesticating animals, including goats, sheep, and cows. Combining genetics, chemistry, and anthropology, this story provides a compelling example of the co-evolution of human genes and human culture."--ContainerEvolving switches, evolving bodies: "When glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, populations of marine stickleback fish were stranded in newly formed lakes. Today, these remarkable little fish thrive in freshwater habitats drastically different from their ancestral ocean environment. The bodies of some lake stickleback populations have undergone a striking transformation, completely losing the long, projecting body spines that defend marine sticklebacks from large predators. This dramatic story of evolution is told in a beautiful short film featuring stunning field locations in Alaska and the Nevada desert. Watch as scientists David Kingsley and Michael Bell reveal changes in stickleback skeletons in living populations and in the fossil record, and explain how we have come to understand that elements in our genomes, called genetic switches, play a powerful role in the evolution of bodies."--Container

live action